Methodology

The Urbane Project has set the goal to prepare the ground for PI driven operations in urban logistics

Using the Internet’s concept of hierarchical aggregation in autonomous systems overseeing ever smaller internal autonomous systems and local area networks, the URBANE project’s concept is to employ a physical distribution architecture in which large consolidation centers distribute goods to ever smaller region-district-neighborhood shared distribution centers to efficiently and effectively manage the ever-increasing volumes of last mile goods for delivery​.

Several analogies of how a city might operate as an internet not for the efficient and effective distribution of goods will be explored, including:

  1. “The city as a cloud service provider” : cities provide on demand, scalable resources for managing flows
  2. “The city as controllers”: a software defined network of services
  3. “The pure crowdsourced delivery model”
URBANE will deliver a framework for optimized green last mile operations defining the principles and prerequisites of a PI-inspired urban logistics operational model and set the strategic priorities and direction of the project.

By employing a digital twin to model city logistics flows and exploring the application of collaboration protocols based on game theoretic concepts for optimality, URBANE’s goal is to demonstrate that a PI like approach to urban logistics can achieve significant reductions in the social and environmental impacts of last mile deliveries while at the same time fairly sharing costs and benefits amongst all collaborating partners